The House of Assembly described the ex-parte order granted by the Federal High Court restraining the parliament from impeaching Mr Aiyedatiwa as "unconstitutional and clearly malevolent".
The Ondo State House of Assembly has asked the National Judicial Council (NJC) to sanction Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja, for granting an ex-parte order to the State Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, amid the lawmakers’ plot to impeach him.
In a petition on Tuesday, the House of Assembly described the ex-parte order granted by the Federal High Court restraining the parliament from impeaching Mr Aiyedatiwa as "unconstitutional and clearly malevolent".
Olamide Oladiji, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, who signed the petition addressed to the NJC, accused Justice Nwite of allegedly compromising his office and violating the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The petition reads, “As the Speaker of the 10th Ondo State House of Assembly, and on behalf of the entire members of the House of Assembly (hereinafter referred to as “ODHA”), I write your lordship to formally lodge a complaint against Hon. Justice Emeka Nwite of the Abuja Judicial Division of the Federal High Court, for compromising his office and violating the extant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), ignoring judicial decisions of the appellate courts and extant Practice Directions and/or relevant Circulars of the Federal High Court, to grant an unconstitutional, clearly malevolent, and ostensibly procured ex parte order on 26th September, 2023 in Suit FHC/ABJ/CS/1294/2023 restraining ODHA as an arm of government from exercising its constitutional powers.”
According to the copy of the petition obtained by SaharaReporters, Mr Oladiji recalled that on September 2023, 11 members of the Assembly presented a notice of allegations of gross misconduct against Mr Aiyedatiwa to him as the Speaker.
He added that the action of the state lawmakers was in line with Section 188 (2) (a) & (b) of the Constitution, noting that the gross misconduct contained 14 allegations, many of which relate to alleged financial improprieties running into hundreds of millions of Naira.
“My Lord, as a ranking member of ODHA and based on the benefit of a detailed legal advice which the House has sought on the subject matter, I know as a fact that impeachment is a purely legislative affair.
“Section 188 (10) of the Constitution clearly provides that: ‘No proceedings or determination of the House of Assembly or an Impeachment Panel or any matter relating to such proceedings or determination shall be entertained or questioned in any court.
“However, in spite of the above provisions of the Constitution, the Deputy Governor approached Justice Emeka Nwite with an ex parte application on 21st September, 2023, just a day after I received Annexure ODHA1 (the notice of allegations of gross misconduct) against him at the plenary of the House, to procure an order to stop the legislative process of his impeachment.
“My lord, as a Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justice Emeka Nwite knows or ought to know that there are extant Circulars and Practice Directions prohibiting Federal High Court Judges from granting ex parte injunctions in political cases and/or taking cases that did not originate from their immediate Judicial Divisions.”
The House resolved that Justice Nwite should be investigated for “abuse of ex parte injunction and/or his office to gratify the Ondo State Deputy-Governor, and if found liable, the National Judicial Council should mete out the appropriate sanction against him as required by the dictates of judicial fidelity and the protection of the rule of law and our nascent democracy”.